On one side of the floor was a team coming off possibly its best practice of the year. On the other side, a team that just had a players-only meeting. Something was going to have to give.

It was a thrilling matchup of two middling Eastern Conference teams in competition to see which one is less of a mess on that given night.

The Bulls team that showed up for Monday night’s 113-82 blowout win over the Detroit Pistons were unrecognizable from the group that got blown out twice in two days last week by the Milwaukee Bucks, and blew a 21-point lead to the Minnesota Timberwolves a few days before that.

Thirty-four of the Bulls' 49 made field goals were assisted, and they were making everything. They shot 59.8 percent from the field and a decidedly un-Bulls-like 50 percent from 3-point range. They outclassed the Pistons in every way at both ends of the floor.

The Bulls bench is having fun during the first half of their blowout win over the Detroit Pistons at United Center. (Caylor Arnol/USA TODAY Sports)

After that lengthy Sunday practice, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said the team needed to start having fun again. They certainly were doing that on Monday. The whole bench stood for most of the first quarter as shot after shot went in. Nikola Mirotic made his triumphant return after two games in the doghouse, scoring 13 points and hitting three 3-pointers. Doug McDermott looked as comfortable as he has all season, scoring 13 and shooting without hesitation all night.

“We’re a different team when everybody’s making shots,” Jimmy Butler said. “When they’ve got to guard everybody on the floor, there’s no matchup you can key in on. We’ve got a lot of guys that can take and make shots at any point in time from a lot of places on the floor.”

If last week’s string of losses were rock bottom, Monday was the idealized version of what this Bulls team can be when every single thing goes right. The team they actually are is somewhere in the middle, but it was hard to deny the sense of relief throughout the locker room afterward.

“You have to give the guys a lot of credit for stepping up,” Hoiberg said. “Last week was embarrassing for everybody. The way we were able to snap out of it tonight and have the guys play…the thing we talked about most was having each other’s back and playing well together.”

His tone was just a little different from Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy, who lit into his team after the game when someone asked about the team meeting.

“Team meeting, my ass,” Van Gundy said. “That stuff means nothing. It’s what you do on the court. Talking’s easy. I have nothing to say. It was a disgusting performance by everyone, including myself. It was unprofessional, embarrassing, humiliating, whatever you want to say. It was terrible.”

Hoiberg never gets quite that raw, but maybe if the Bulls (14-13) lost Monday, he would've been that angry on the inside. It would be naive to think that everything is fixed now. But a blowout win eases some immediate concerns.

It’s hard to write off the Bulls as a playoff team, as inconsistent as they are. Outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, there are a cluster of teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference, and the Pistons aren’t the only ones who are just as much of a mess as the Bulls were last week. It’s going to be up and down all year, but as long as the Bulls stay afloat and stay healthy, their top-end talent can and should win out.

Not that that’s good enough for Dwyane Wade.

“I’ve played long enough in this league to understand that I won’t have that attitude,” Wade said. “I’ve been on teams where it didn’t look good and then we got it rolling. You just never know how it’s going to go. Confidence is key. Obviously staying healthy is a big factor too. So we don’t know. And you don’t need to know. It’s the 27th game of the season. We’ve got to continue to find out in the next 27 how good we’ll be. You hope that the team makes the step in the next half of the season and you’re a little better, and then the next half you’re a little better. That’s the goal.”

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Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls and the NBA for The Athletic. He also co-hosts the Locked On Bulls podcast. Sean has previously written for Bleacher Report, USA Today, Sports On Earth and NBC Sports. Follow Sean on Twitter @highkin. If you liked this story, subscribe today for access to all of our ad-free content. Plans start at just $3.33 per month.